Pages

Monday, November 18, 2013

I've got something delicious and nutritious for this month's Secret Recipe Club! I was assigned Serena and Deanna's blog, Teaspoon of Spice. They are both registered dietitians so I was excited to see what healthy yet tasty recipes they had on their blog. The pictures made everything look so delicious! In fact, though I had not visited their blog before my assignment I realized I had seen some of these pictures on pinterest and even re-pinned them myself. That's how you know you've made it big in the blog world is when people find your photos to be so beautiful that they must collect them. Speaking of pinning recipes, did you know you can now hover over my pictures to pin them? So easy!

It didn't take me long to decide on a recipe since I'm still working through my 16 cups of pumpkin puree and this one was staring at me on the homepage. However, I'm not much of a gingersnap fan and wanted to keep this really light and fluffy. Easy enough because I used graham crackers instead of gingersnaps and just sprayed some whip cream in place of the cheesecake layers. If you'd rather use the cheesecake layer (which I'll admit, does sound wonderful!), checkout the original recipe linked below in the source.

It has all the flavor of a pumpkin pie with a light, silky texture making it the perfect easy, no-bake dessert to impress your Thanksgiving guests. Heck, I would even eat this one for breakfast if I added some crumbled granola or maybe some nuts. Since it's made with 0% fat Greek yogurt, it's practically sinless!

Monday, November 11, 2013

Have you ever had a moment where you looked at a recipe and thought "hmmm...this is interesting...different and could it *really* work?". This was one of those recipes to me when I was searching for a way to use some of my 16 cups of pumpkin puree. Yes...you read that correctly. 16 cups. That's enough for EIGHT pumpkin pies and I wasn't about to do that!

When you get over the fact that this is a non-traditional pizza without any sauce and instead think about the ingredients it does have, it starts to make a lot of sense. Brie and apples aren't anything out of the ordinary. Sausage is always delicious. And pumpkin pizza crust? Just a small departure from pumpkin bread. Starting to warm up to the concept already, aren't ya? :)

I have to say that I truly fell in love with this pizza. It has a subtle pumpkin flavor but you can tell it's there by the fun slightly orange color of the dough. I'm actually starting to formulate a dessert pizza in my head using this crust...

Melty brie. Need I say more?

Sweet apples and salty sausage meld together to form this unique glaze-like "sauce" on the crust. And then to finish, instead of arugula I added some fresh sage which left me wanting more with every bite.

It was really quite a delicious Fall treat! This pizza could make a great Thanksgiving appetizer (cut into smaller rectangular pieces a la Donatos pizza style) or dinner entree. Please give this one a try. You won't regret it!

In a small bowl, proof the yeast by combining it with 3/8 cup warm water and brown sugar. Let sit for about five minutes or until it starts foaming.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine butter, salt, and the remaining 3/8 cup water. Heat until the butter melts. Let it cool until warm, but not hot.

Pour butter mixture into the yeast mixture and then into the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix the pumpkin puree into the yeast and butter mixtures. Then mix in the bread flour. Using the bread hook attachment, mix the dough on speed 2 for 10 minutes. Cover the bowl with a damp kitchen towel and allow the dough to rise in a warm place until doubled, about one hour.

Preheat oven to 500. Sprinkle some corn meal onto pizza pan.

After dough has risen, flour it and shape into a ball. Stretch into desired size and shape. Place on prepared pizza pan. Bake for 3-4 minutes and remove from the oven.

Meanwhile, cook sausage in a skillet over medium heat, crumbling it up using a spatula.
Cut apples into thin slices. Layer onto pizza. Next layer slices of brie onto the pizza. Sprinkle with turkey sausage.

Bake assembled pizza for 10-12 minutes or until bottom of dough is starting to get brown.

Monday, November 4, 2013

Who has leftover Halloween candy? Or did you already eat the loot and any personal remnants this weekend...and maybe even went back to the grocery store to buy the clearance candy? It's okay to tell me if you did. I won't judge. We're all friends here :).

With the rain and spooky howling wind on Halloween night, we ended up with maybe half the number of trick-or-treaters that we normally get. Some neighboring communities postponed their trick-or-treating. To that I say "weak sauce!" and we used to go out in the SNOW and it was dark outside because we had daylight savings earlier back then. But I digress. For those that braved the weather we gave out extra candy and yet still had quite a bit remaining.

Snickers are my favorite candy. I love the chewy nougat texture contrasting with the crunchy peanuts and sticky caramel. What's not to love?

The only way that they could be better is by paying homage to them in the form of a cupcake. I made these cupcakes for my son's 2 month birthday but they'd be a great way to use any leftover candy...or just because.

It's essentially doctored up cake mix with a homemade caramel frosting. I love foods that look "fancy" :). Normally I'm adverse to using shortening but it makes the frosting whip up all silky like a dream. I bet it'd be even more awesome with butter flavored shortening. But if the thought of using shortening makes you absolutely gag then by all means feel free to use just all butter instead. Mmm...butter...

Your favorite chocolate cake recipe or boxed chocolate cake mix (Being a new mom, I went boxed. No shame in that!)

24 frozen Snickers miniatures

For the Frosting

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup shortening

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 pounds powdered sugar

1/3 cup caramel topping plus more for drizzling

1/4 teaspoon salt

For the Decoration

12 frozen Snickers miniatures

Caramel topping

Chopped peanuts

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line two 12-well muffin tins with paper liners.

To make the cupcakes: In a large mixing bowl, prepare cake according to package directions. Evenly divide the batter among the prepared pans. Gently push a whole frozen Snickers Miniature bar into the center of the batter until the candy is flush with the surface of the batter. Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until top is springy to the touch and a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool cupcakes on a wire rack.

To make the frosting: Cream together the butter and shortening using an electric mixer. Beat in the vanilla extract, salt, and caramel topping. Gradually add the powdered sugar, mixing thoroughly between additions until all of it has been added.

To decorate: Cut each remaining Snickers bar square on the diagonal so that you have 24 halves. Garnish with chopped Snickers bar halves, chopped peanuts and a drizzle of caramel topping.